THE BEER NUT: Golden Nutties give accolades to the best in beer of the year

Wednesday

Dec 21, 2016 at 10:43 AM

Norman Miller Daily News Staff @Norman_MillerMW

OK folks, put down whatever you’re doing and grab a brew, it’s time for the second annual Beer Nut Golden Nutties, a look at the best-of-the best in beer in 2016.

This year, with a couple of exceptions, I’m limiting awards to Massachusetts breweries. It’s not that there aren’t great beers made everywhere, but with the industry exploding it’s hard enough to keep up with what's going on locally. Also, for individual beer awards, the beer has to be available in stores. It can’t be a brewery exclusive.

Golden Beer Nuttie winners will receive … well, nothing. Unless, they want to send a self-addressed stamped envelope to me and I’ll mail back a photo of me smiling and giving them a thumbs-up that they can hang on their wall.

So, without further ado, here are the winners of the Beer Nut Golden Nutties:

Best New Brewery: Stone Cow Brewery, Barre

Stone Cow brews good beer, which is a requisite for making the list. But, it is so much more. Stone Cow is about the experience of going to the brewery, located on a working dairy farm in Barre. It is a great place to spend the day – they have barbecues on the weekends with their own meat, they have a farmers market that sells fresh veggies, fresh meats, and ice cream made with milk from their own cows. There’s a petting farm and an awesome farm dog. Grab a Roll in the Hay IPA, some brisket and you’ve got yourself a hell of a day.

Best Brewery Taproom: Notch Brewery & Taproom, Salem

I’ve been a longtime fan of Notch. And, after visiting their taproom that opened up in Salem earlier this year, I’m a huge fan of the taproom. It’s everything I want in a taproom – great space, outdoor seating (on the water, no less), great staff, great music and great beer. And bonus, because all of the beers are low-alcohol, the beer is available in liters. If you follow my Instagram (RealBeerNut), you know I’m a fan of liter mugs. Add in giant pretzels (including one the size of a toddler), sausages and Skee Ball for 25 cents a game, and you can have a fantastic day. I just hope they open a satellite taproom closer to where I live.

Beer Event of the Year: Copenhagen Beer Celebration

Held in September at City Hall Plaza, this was a truly amazing beer festival. It was the first time the fest was held outside of Europe, and it featured one of the best brewery and beer lists I’ve seen at a festival. There were many local and American favorites, but also included were numerous breweries from throughout Europe that don’t usually make it here. There were plenty of breweries, so the lines for beer rarely got too long. Every brewery seemed to bring their best beers, and although a lot of people were there, City Hall Plaza is large enough that there was plenty of space. Hopefully, the festival comes back to Boston next year.

Best New Beer: Arquebus, Cambridge Brewing Company

This is kind of cheating. Arquebus is not actually new, but it’s new to being bottled and sold in stores so it qualifies under my very loose rules. Either way, Arqeubus is great. Arquebus is a 12 percent alcohol by volume barleywine. It is my favorite barleywine of all time. If you can find it, buy it. Trust me. Do it. Now.

Most Underrated Brewery: Mystic Brewery, Chelsea

Whenever you hear people talking about the best breweries, you rarely hear Mystic Brewery mentioned, and that’s a shame. They brew some of the best beers in the state, but because they went so long ignoring hoppy IPAs, they've been overshadowed by other breweries. Stop ignoring them. They brew a great lineup of beers, including some of the best saisons you’ll ever try. And if you’re a lover of double IPAs, the ones they have been brewing, including Gone Squatchin’ and the Wrath of Gosh, have been phenomenal.

Brewery of the Year: Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers, Framingham

This was the single hardest choice – so many breweries could qualify for this award. What pushed Jack’s Abby to the top was the opening of the Springdale Barrel Room last week. The fact that they now have two giant taprooms brewing totally different lineups of beers is incredible to me. Jack’s Abby continues to brew all lagers, coming out with some great beers this year, like Friend Request, Beer Geek Helles and Graham Cracker Barrel Aged Framinghammer. They also run a fantastic restaurant. And now, with the Springdale Barrel Room, located right next door, they have IPAs, barrel-aged wild ales and Belgian-style ales available. They have the most wide-ranging offerings of beer in the state, if not New England, now. Plan a visit there soon.

Norman Miller is a Daily News staff writer. Email him at nmiller@wickedlocal.com or call at 508-626-3823. Check out the Beer Nut blog at blogs.wickedlocal.com/beernut. Follow him on Twitter @RealBeerNut and on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerBeerNut.